Marie Antoinette Pendant Sells for $36M

RAPAPORT... A natural pearl and diamond pendant belonging to Marie
Antoinette smashed its price estimate and capped off a record-breaking sale at
Sotheby’s Geneva auction.

The jewel went for $36.2 million, beating its presale valuation
of $1 million to $2 million, and setting a new auction record for a natural
pearl, Sotheby’s said Wednesday. All jewels on offer at the auction found a
buyer, including 10 belonging to the French queen. The entire collection sold
for $53.1 million, more than seven times the total presale high estimate of $7
million.

“Tonight we saw the Marie Antoinette factor work its magic,”
said Daniela Mascetti, Sotheby’s jewelry chairman for Europe. “No other queen
is more famous for her love of jewels, and her personal treasures, pearls and
diamonds that survived intact the tumults of history captivated the interest
of collectors around the world.”

A monogrammed diamond ring with the initials MA, containing
a lock of Marie Antoinette’s hair, garnered $443,786, 50 times its presale
estimate of $8,000 to $10,000, while a three-strand pearl necklace went for
$2.3 million against its original valuation of $200,000 to $300,000. The French
queen’s white and yellow diamond brooch also well exceeded its estimate of
$50,000 to $80,000, selling for $2.1 million.

The auction was also the highest-value sale of royal jewels in history, Sotheby’s said. The previous record was set in 1987, when the jewels of the duchess of
Windsor, Wallis Simpson, sold for $50.3 million at Sotheby’s.

“More than 30 years ago, I was part of the specialist team
entrusted with the landmark sale of the jewels of the duchess of Windsor — a
sale that has held a legendary status ever since,” said David Bennett,
worldwide chairman of Sotheby’s international jewelry division. “Tonight a new
benchmark was established in the sale of royal and noble jewels.”

The sale also included jewels belonging to the Royal Bourbon
Parma family, to whom Marie Antoinette sent her jewels for safekeeping before
being taken into captivity. Some 90% of those lots sold above their high estimate.